I think I speak for everyone when I say that spring is our all-time favourite time of year in this house. Admittedly, Tall Dude’s favourite time of year is fall, and Little E and Tiny J kind of love every time of year. But I’m going to make an executive decision here and cast our family’s vote for spring. Sprouts are sprouting, flowers are blooming, and the snow tires are off the car (I really hope that wasn’t premature). Little E and I are planting a butterfly garden, which is happily a hard activity to mess up since native plants grow really easily (Little E mostly likes to sprinkle the seeds and then run off to jump on the trampoline, shouting “Okay, butterflies, we’re ready for you!”), and I’ve got all my veggies and herbs growing nicely. And we are reading lots of books about flowers. And vegetables. And birds. And butterflies. And curious gardens.

The Curious Garden is set in a dreary land with no trees or greenery of any kind — not a plant to be seen. People stay inside most of the time…except for Liam, who loves to explore in any kind of weather. One day, he finds a dark stairwell leading up to the old, defunct railway tracks, where he discovers…plants. Perhaps the last plants in existence! The wildlowers and plants are struggling, so Liam becomes a gardener. He cares for the plants and watches them spread and spread and spread, all over the railway, and, the following spring, down into the city.

Suddenly there are plants everywhere! And, what’s more, there are gardeners everywhere, as people take on the stewardship of the new plants and greenery.

Many years later, the entire city had blossomed. But of all the new gardens, Liam’s favorite was where it all began.

The story and the illustrations are what make this book and, its message about of nature reclaiming urban spaces, shine. You may recognize author/illustrator Peter Brown‘s name from Mr. Tiger Goes Wild and My Teacher is a Monster (No, I Am Not), both of which we very much enjoy. Little E and I love the images of bare feet on grassy steps, lively animal topiaries, and lush green plants spreading across a grey urban landscape. Little E’s favourite is the picture of Liam in disguise, sneaking plants into new places. This led to a conversation about seed bombing, an activity we’ve now got on the agenda for this coming weekend.

Where this book falls down a bit is the writing. There’s nothing exactly wrong with the writing, but the words don’t particularly sing. However, the illustrations are so winning and the story so lovely that The Curious Garden is still a winning pick for lovers of spring, for urban gardeners, for children who like to get dirty, and really for anyone who has ever smiled to see a flower popping up between the cracks in the sidewalk.

You guys, sometimes after a long winter, I just cannot remember what spring feels like.

I remember that plants grow, but I can’t quite recall the smell of earth and buds they bring with them or exactly how the tulips look right before they open up (or, in my case, right before the squirrels and rabbits eat them).

We stumbled on this book at the library and I feel like it has reminded me, not only of that smell or the bright green of the first few brave stems pushing their way up toward the sun, but also of that lengthy period of anticipation, when the snow has melted but everything is still brown.

First you have brown, all around you have brownthen there are seeds
and a wish for rain,
and then it rains
and it is still brown,
but a hopeful, very possible sort of brown,
an is that a little green? no, it’s just brown sort of brown

A little boy plants his seeds and cares for them — accompanied by his friends (a dog, a rabbit, and a turtle) — and, when they do not grow, wonders “if maybe it was the birds / or maybe it was the bears and all that stomping, because bears can’t read signs that say things like please do not stomp here — there are seeds and they are trying” until one day, of course, he walks out of the house “and now you have green, all around you have green.”

I fell in love with this bespectacled boy and his friends, pressing their ears to the ground to listen for “greenish hum that you can only hear if you put your ear to the ground and close your eyes” and Little E fell in love with the little dirt piles, each carefully labelled with the seeds inside, the seeds that are trying.

Post navigation

About

I am a freelance book editor and kids' book aficionado doing my best to bring the best children's literature to kids and the people who read to them. I live with Tall Dude, Little E (4.5), and Tiny J (2).